


Meta - Peggy Carter's backstory

by annathecrow



Series: annathecrow's old tumblr meta [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Bletchley Park, Commentary, Gen, Historical Inaccuracy, Meta, Nonfiction, SOE, WWII History
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29862543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annathecrow/pseuds/annathecrow
Summary: In which I explain why the backstory of Peggy Carter as a Bletchley Park code breaker is historically impossible (or at least strongly implausible), and have Feelings about the matter (as well as the backstory itself).
Series: annathecrow's old tumblr meta [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2195553
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	1. Peggy Parker's Bletchley Park backstory is bogus, and here's why

**Author's Note:**

> This piece of meta was originally posted on 05 Mar 2016 on tumblr, and has been archived as part of the [March Meta Matters Challenge](https://marchmetamatterschallenge.dreamwidth.org/).

so I saw the 4th episode of Agent Carter s2, aaaaand…

…I can’t believe _this_ is what I fixated on, but that whole thing with SOE is just bollocks!

*takes a deep breath* 

First, the whole plot point with Peggy Carter being recruited from Bletchley Park is a gross misunderstanding (or just misrepresentation) of how, and why, were SOE agents recruited. 

What could get you “on the radar”, so to speak? Knowing the language, and knowing the field. Almost all SOE agents were within the so-called F Section, which operated in France. Thus, the female SOE agents were usually women with “proper” education (who were taught French), women who spent some time in France, and women with French husbands. The show doesn’t mention either of those options and her boss doesn’t either, instead focusing on her codebreaking experience.

Which, SOE wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about. The two positions available to women in the field were “courier” and “radio operator”. Even if Peggy was considered for a radio operator, codebreaking experience wouldn’t be the reason to recruit her.

Actually, if Peggy worked at Bletchley Park, I highly doubt they’d let her into SOE at all! Remember, Bletchley Park was a top secret operation - do you really think that anybody with half a brain would let a woman who knows anything about it into the field? (And, okay, the SOE leadership did make several several terrible lapses of judgement, but I would believe somebody would have put a stop to something as dumb as this.)

Speaking of secrecy, the show blatantly disregards the amount of “need to know” SOE was operating under. Her boss wouldn’t have told her that being recruited would mean going into field. He likely wouldn’t have known - hell, she probably wouldn’t have learned the full truth until she signed up! And of course, the idea that she would ~discuss it with her fiancé~ is absolutely ridiculous.

Look, I know that this is a comicbook, alternative history, superheroes and jetpack nazis and yadda yadda. And that sometimes history needs to be bent to tell a story. But oh, for _cripes sake_ , couldn’t you have at least _tried_???

And I mean, _yes, of course_ I want Peggy be at Bletchley Park, _of course_ I want Peggy to be SOE, but not like this!


	2. The men of Peggy's past

[after follower jokingly called Fred (the fiancé) a douchebag:]

Well. Actually. About that.

Can we really call Fred a douchebag for not knowing something Peggy intentionally hid from him (and everyone else, including herself?) He’s milquetoast, sure, and decidedly unglamorous. But that is what Peggy seems to want. The whole relationship is actually Peggy being her stubborn, magnificent self: her goal is ideal traditional femininity, and she’s succeeding _perfectly_. The dude is just a dupe.

And, that’s another point that made me uncomfortable (although this time it’s an interesting source of meta, so I won’t complain too much): at the engagement dinner, both Fred AND Michael are walking _all over_ Peggy. Both of them well-meaning, but both of them doing the same thing: telling Peggy what she wants. And that’s just… Yeah, I believe Peggy is in denial, and she would be deeply unhappy had she married Fred. But at that point, that is what she wants. 

The whole thing gets that much deeper when Michael dies and Peggy calls off her wedding and takes up the SOE offer to honor his legacy. I believe, at that point, she isn’t doing it because she believes Michael was right. She does it because Michael wanted her to do it. Which… I guess it depends on personal opinion. I suppose it might be irritating, that so much of Peggy’s career is owed to a dead man in her life. But I think I can get over it - it’s a layer to her life story that resonates with me, because it’s one of all those thousands of deaths that were insignificant in larger scale, but still so defining for someone.

That said, I’ve read fanfics that did it better.


End file.
